DEVIZES archivist Matthew McMurray is celebrating after people responded to an on-line campaign that will allow 28,000 pages of wartime diaries written by female volunteers to be freely available on the web.

Mr McMurray, who is the Royal Voluntary Service archivist at its base in Bath Road, is delighted that a target to raise £25,000 in just a month has been smashed.

He said: "We’re so grateful for the support and donations from the public. Those women were pivotal in the victory of the Second World War and are a fundamental part of our heritage, but their efforts have almost been forgotten.

"Now, thanks to our supporters, we can share these diaries with everyone, helping to preserve them for generations to come. Keeping these once hidden histories alive forever. Having smashed our target we are now going to be able to digitise over 2,000 more pages of these diaries than we had hoped, bringing more stories to light for the first time."

The Kickstarter initiative to have the war time diaries digitise was led by Mr McMurray from an office on the Bath Road Business Park. His collection has been awarded UNESCO Uk Memory of the World status and the documents are recognised as some of the most important in 20th century British history.

The stories include everything from how young evacuees were organised to salvaging dog hair for knitting.

The Hidden Histories of A Million Wartime Women project went live on Kickstarter throughout May with the target of £25,000 to digitise the first 28,000 pages of diaries from 1938 to 1941.

Mr McMurray said public support has been so overwhelming that the charity hasn’t just met its target, but superseded it having raised £27,724 thanks to the 705 backers who kindly donated.

He said: "On the first day we received about £7,000 and we have been watching the total go up ever since. It has been very exciting."

These pledges have given Royal Voluntary Service the opportunity to reveal a vivid insight into life during World War II. The project will inspire future generations and allow the charity to preserve documents awarded UNESCO UK Memory of the World status in 2010.

A spokesman for the service said: "For the past six years, our archivist and a team of volunteers at Royal Voluntary Service has been sorting and protecting the diaries but thanks to public donations, a specially trained staff member will now begin digitising them ready for publication on our website in July 2017.

"These ordinary women who volunteered for the charity, previously known as the Women’s Voluntary Services, played a vital role on the Home Front and worked tirelessly to contribute towards the war effort. As well as sewing, cooking and helping the community recover after raids, they learnt new skills such as extinguishing bombs, driving in the black-out and making clothes from dog hair."